Rapper Eminem has asked Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to stop using his songs.
The letter comes just over a week after the biotech entrepreneur impromptu performed the rapper’s song “Lose Yourself” during the Iowa state fair.
Eminem made the request through the performers’ rights organization, BMI, in a letter dated August 23.
Ramaswamy is seeking to unseat Donald Trump as the Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election.
A Ramaswamy spokeswoman said the candidate would comply with the request of Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers III.
In the letter, the company says it “received a communication” from Eminem, objecting that the Republican was using his “musical compositions.”
“BMI will consider as a material violation [de su licencia] any interpretation Vivek makes of Eminem’s works during the 2024 campaign going forward,” the letter added.
Referencing the lyrics of one of Eminem’s songs, campaign spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to US media: “Vivek just got on stage and let himself go.”
Ramaswamy, for his part, posted on his account on the social network X -formerly known as Twitter- lowering the intensity of the situation.
“Will the REAL Slim Shady please stand up? He didn’t just say what I think he did, did he? (Can the real Slim Shady please stand up? He didn’t just say what I think he just said, did he?), he wrote in reference to one of Eminem’s lyrics.
The rookie politician is seen as a rising star within the Republican campaign after a strong showing last week in the primary debate.
He positioned himself as an outsider in politics willing to advance former President Trump’s America first agenda.
That musicians send letters to politicians to stop using their compositions has become something of a tradition in US politics.
Trump himself received dozens of letters from music stars – including the Rolling Stones, Queen, Adele and Pharrell Williams – saying he did not have permission to use their songs at presidential and campaign events.
old-fashioned clashes
By Mark Savage, Music correspondent
BBCNews
Politicians and musicians have been at odds with each other for decades.
Bruce Springsteen chastised President Ronald Reagan for using the Born in the USA song during his 1984 campaign.
DJ Fatboy Slim angrily denounced the use of his song Right here, right now during the UK Labor party conference in 2004, a year after the start of the Iraq war.
And the Rolling Stones fought a lengthy legal battle to stop Donald Trump from using the song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” as his exit song.
However, US politicians do not always need direct permission from artists. Your campaigns can purchase license packages from rights organizations like BMI and ASCAP, giving them legal access to more than 20 million songs to use at political events.
But musicians have the authority to remove their songs from those listings. The Rolling Stones did, and Eminem followed suit after Ramaswamy’s impromptu rendition.
It appears that the musician was unaware that his music was covered by this broad license prior to this incident – an apparent problem with the US model, which has resulted in artists such as Adele, Neil Young, Phill Collins (as well as Tom’s representatives Petty and Prince) will decline the use of their music in the 2016 and 2020 campaigns.
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BBC-NEWS-SRC: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/articles/c515e5lw214o, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-08-29 18:50:06
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